This is the stuff of legend, and as a million hungry directors pile onto Youtube it marks another step towards the internet, and Youtube in particular, becoming the place for your showreel to be discovered.
Uruguayan Fede Alvarez uploaded his short film Ataque de Pánico to the video sharing website and so far it has had upwards of one and a half million hits.
More of a visual effects demonstration than a straight ahead narrative the short is dripping with atmosphere and depicts an invasion of Montevideo by an army of giant robots.
I was forwarded the link to this video a few weeks ago and watched it three times in a row, it seemed incredibly well produced and like Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 precursor, Alive in Joburg, it has attracted great interest from Hollywood. The BBC are reporting that Alvarez has been asked to develop a feature film based on the giant robots invading Latin America.
Here is Ataque de Pánico in its five minute glory.
And for comparison here is Neill Blomkamp’s Alive in Joburg.
